Ladies 2s v Hertford - 27-10-18

The Ladies 2s game fell on the Halloween weekend and it felt as if the ghosts of those who had gone before us were lingering, watching what would turn out to be a darned good game of stick n ball – sorry, hockey.

The gusty air chilled our bones to the marrow and whipped the skin on our faces. The sun shone overhead hinting at the summer that now looked a fond distant memory. This was not going to be a pleasant game but by gosh were wield out sticks with pride and purpose. We were on the pitch ahead of the opposition, going through our well-honed and much drilled warm up routine, and heck we needed it. As the match started, Berko looked energised and hungry for the win. From the defensive line up through to the midfield and attackers, we played like team possessed. The midfield passes and interplay between Bunni, Hannah and Mari sliced and diced up the field leaving the opposition beleaguered and wounded, figuratively speaking. Emily A and Emma ripped Hertford wide open with their unmatched pace and bloodthirsty need to get into the goal-scoring zone for the quick pass to Charlie. For Berko, this was deliciously joyful to behold. For Hertford, not so much. The hard work paid off. The opposition could not hold off the wave upon wave of sheer unadulterated Berko brilliance. Like human battering rams we were determined to smash through the Hertford defence. We scored twice in the first half – first from Bunni and followed up 10 minutes later by Hannah. But this half was not without its casualties one of whom was Emily H, leaving us with less than one fully functioning substitute. Well it left us with no subs actually.Where was the Berko defence, you ask? Worry not, dear reader, the defence did its thing. They saw off two penalty corners and kept Kelly, our goalkeeper, in a constant state of boredom.What else happened? Oh yes, the second half. This was very much a defensive game. Although Hertford didn’t present too much of a danger, they kept Annamarie and Helen fairly busy intercepting the attacks down the centre. Hertford tried to use the wings but found Babs and Rebecca lurking menacingly on the left and right respectively.The final score was 2-0, but could have been so much more.MoM deservedly went to the very tenacious and quick-footed Emily Alderson.